De Anonymus Pacetti oftewel Hendrik Frans van Lint

The drawings reproduced by Professor Hermann Egger in his Romische Veduten, Vienna 1931 — 1932, include a number of specimens by an anonymous artist, whom he introduced as the Anonymus Pacetti. Egger dated these drawings about 1720. They belong to a series of ninety-six drawings purchased in 1844 as part of the Pacetti collection by Waagen for the Berlin Printroom. In his turn, Pacetti had acquired them from the estate left by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi, one of the most famous collectors in Rome in the eighteenth century. Because of the great similarity in composition of one of the drawings, a view of the Campo Vaccino and S. Maria Liberatrice (Anonymus Pacetti No. 14273, ill. 4), to that of the left half of a painting by Hendrik Frans van Lint signed and dated 1749, which was sold at Christie's, London, in 1947 (ill. 5), it is possible to identify the Anonymus Pacetti as Hendrik Frans van Lint. The identification is borne out by the fact that a second drawing at Berlin, a view of the Velabrum (Anonymus Pacetti No. 14383, ill. 6), is a preparatory study for the right half of the painting. Moreover, the identification can be verified by comparison with other examples. The sketch of the Forum (Anonymus Pacetti No. 14272, ill. 1) is elaborated in a signed drawing in the British Museum, London (ill. 3), while a signed painting of the Arch of Constantine in the collection of the late Mr Pierre Bautier, Brussels (ill. 11) is based on the drawing Anonymus Pacetti No 14373 (ill. 10). The painter Hendrik Frans van Lint has hitherto received little attention. The published archival documents and biographies only supply scanty data. The majority of his paintings are in the possession of private collectors, notably in Rome and England. During the last few decades many samples of his art have been auctioned at Christie's and Sotheby's. A closer study of Hendrik van Lint's oeuvre and his share in the development of the art of'Vedute' painting seems desirable. The connection of his work with that of Caspar van Witt el and Jan Frans van Bloemen, as well as the relationship between Van Lint and his Italian contemporaries such as Locatelli, Panini, Canaletto, Busiri and Anesi is worth investigating. The present author, a member of the staff of the Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (Netherlands Institute for Art History), The Hague, intends to study this matter in greater detail.